Take Inventory.

We have been talking a lot about brand attributes in the latest issues of reachBEYOND! and I wanted to give you an exercise to help you uncover those attributes that are authentic to you and have been instrumental in your success. Try this:

On a sheet of paper, draw a straight horizontal line. Label the left end point of the line ‘Birth’ and then somewhere further to the right but before the end of the line, write ‘Today.’


    __|________________________________|_________
     Birth                                                                 Today

Now, think back to times in your career and in life when you have been amazingly successful. Think of specific events where you really shined. Perhaps it was during a presentation you delivered or an event you managed. Maybe it was a report you wrote or a client meeting that you aced. Document these events on the time-line, indicating when they happened (some time between birth and today). Then for each event, think of the adjectives that would describe you at that time.  Were you caring? Intelligent? Enthusiastic? Leader-like? Optimistic? Which attributes were you exuding that made you successful?

After you have documented these adjectives along the line, take a look at them. Are they all the same? Is there a link among them? Are they words you would use to describe yourself today?

Knowing your authentic and differentiating brand attributes is an important step in the Extract Phase of the personal branding process.

Be my guest on Tuesday, 27 September 2005 at 12pm New York time for the Reach Branding Club tele-seminar ‘Turning Presentations into Performances.’ During this hour-long tele-conference, Kirsten Dixson will be interviewing me about techniques for successful public speaking. Attendance is FREE, but space is limited, so register now.

> get certified in the 360Reach Personal Brand Assessment. The next two sessions are Oct 4 and Oct 11, 2005. Get in now at a special price.

> use the complimentary 360°Reach Personal Profiler to identify your brand attributes.

> learn what others would say are your strongest brand attributes with the 360°Reach Personal Brand Assessment.

> find out which of these brand attributes you would use to describe yourself

 

 

 

© 2005. Reach Communications Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.  All articles unless otherwise noted were written by William Arruda and are property of Reach.  All other articles are owned by their respective authors and were reprinted with permission. The Reach logo and reachBEYOND! are trademarks of Reach Communications Consulting, Inc. All other marks are owned by their respective companies.